An Old Seasonal Truism

Most people are probably aware of the saying “sell in May and go away”. This popular seasonal Wall Street truism implies that the market’s performance is far worse in the six summer months than in the six winter months.

Numerous studies have been undertaken particularly with respect to US stock markets, which confirm the relative weakness of the stock market in the summer months.

May has a bad reputation… rightly so, as it turns out.

What is the status of the “sell in May” rule in other countries though? I have examined the patterns in the eleven most important stock markets in the world.

The Eleven Largest Markets in the World Under the Seasonal Microscope

I have taken a look at the popular benchmark stock indexes of the eleven countries with the largest market capitalization from 1970 onward, or starting from the earliest year as of which continuous price data are available.

The comparison divides the calendar year into a summer half-year from May to October and a winter half-year from November to April. The position is assumed to be closed out on the first trading day of the following month. In the respective half-year in which no position in stocks is taken, a cash position that earns no interest is assumed to be held, so as to avoid any distortions in the depiction of the stock market’s seasonal returns by including interest income.

This much I will say in advance: The results are clear, in all eleven countries the winter half-year outperformed the summer half-year significantly. In the majority of these eleven countries one would actually have lost money during the summer half-year on average! These countries are:

Canada

France

Germany

Japan

Taiwan

United Kingdom

In other words, in these countries it would have been definitely better to go on vacation in the summer months – or to invest elsewhere.

The Half-Year Patterns of Nine Selected Countries

The charts below show the chained stock market performance in nine of the eleven countries during the summer months in red, during the winter months in green, as well as the full year returns in blue (=actual performance of the indexes).

Note: the scale of the charts is linear, as a result of which the performance patterns of the summer and winter half-year periods visually don’t appear to add up to the full year performance (but they do arithmetically).

Canada: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

The winter half-year even beats the full year! Source: Seasonax

China: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

Prices rise almost as strongly in the winter months as over the full year Source: Seasonax

France: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

The winter half-year beats the full year significantly! Source: Seasonax

Germany: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

Once again the winter half-year clearly beats even the year as a whole! Source: Seasonax

Japan: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

If one employs the “sell in May” strategy, even Japan is in a long term bull market. Source: Seasonax

Korea: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

During the winter prices rise almost as much as over the year as a whole. Source: Seasonax

Taiwan: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

In Taiwan the summer half-year is deeply in the red. Source: Seasonax

United Kingdom: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

It suffices to be invested during the winter months. Source: Seasonax

US: Summer Half-Year vs. Winter Half-Year

The winter half-year beats the summer half-year, but not the full year Source: Seasonax

In all of the markets shown here it was sensible to sell in early May – as the markets either posted losses or gains of less than one percent in the summer months in these countries. Investing in these markets during the summer was barely worth it: After all, by employing the “sell in May” strategy, one is also exposed to less risk because one is only invested half of the time.

Detailed Results by Country

The following table shows the half-year results of the nine countries shown above in detail. Half-year periods in which it was profitable to be invested on a risk-adjusted basis are highlighted in green. Half-year periods that generated losses are highlighted in red.

Overview of Country Selection: Half-Year Results

Investing during the summer period was not profitable. Source: Seasonax

Conclusion – Sell In May Works

The table underscores that the summer weakness (a.k.a. the “Halloween Effect”) does indeed exist. Although it is a very simple and well-known rule, the pattern still works. Apparently a far too small number of investors is actually taking action based on their knowledge of the pattern and there is almost no arbitrage activity either.

The stability and persistence of the pattern suggests that “sell in May” will continue to work in the future. Sometimes the simple rules are the best!

Note though: the table above is not complete – there are two countries in which investing in the summer months is actually profitable. If you want to learn which countries are defying the “Sell in May” rule and offer good prospects during the otherwise poor season, visit Seaonax News for a complete overview.

We couldn’t resist – Mark Twain chimes in with his two cents (of course, he didn’t have Seasonax).

Dimitri Speck specializes in pattern recognition and trading systems development. He founded Seasonax and publishes the website www.SeasonalCharts.com, which features free-of-charge seasonal charts for interested investors. In his book The Gold Cartel (published by Palgrave Macmillan, see link on the right hand side), commodities expert Dimitri Speck discusses gold price manipulation and modern-day credit excess. His commodities trading strategy Stay-C has won awards all over Europe. He is the publisher of the web site Seasonal Charts as well as of the Bloomberg app Seasonax and Head Analyst of the 90 Tage Trader Letter.

You may have noticed that our so-called “semiannual” funding drive, which started sometime in the summer if memory serves, has seamlessly segued into the winter. In fact, the year is almost over! We assure you this is not merely evidence of our chutzpa; rather, it is indicative of the fact that ad income still needs to be supplemented in order to support upkeep of the site. Naturally, the traditional benefits that can be spontaneously triggered by donations to this site remain operative regardless of the season - ranging from a boost to general well-being/happiness (inter alia featuring improved sleep & appetite), children including you in their songs, up to the likely allotment of privileges in the afterlife, etc., etc., but the Christmas season is probably an especially propitious time to cross our palms with silver.
A special thank you to all readers who have already chipped in, your generosity is greatly appreciated. Regardless of that, we are honored by everybody's readership and hope we have managed to add a little value to your life.

Bitcoin address: 12vB2LeWQNjWh59tyfWw23ySqJ9kTfJifA

One Response to ““Sell in May and Go Away” – in 9 out of 11 Countries it Makes Sense to Do So”

Most read in the last 20 days:

Effects of Monetary Pumping on the Real World
As long time readers know, we are looking at the economy through the lens of Austrian capital and monetary theory (see here for a backgrounder on capital theory and the production structure). In a nutshell: Monetary pumping falsifies interest rate signals by pushing gross market rates below the rate that reflects society-wide time preferences; this distorts relative prices in the economy and sets a boom into motion – which is characterized by...

“Literally On Fire”
This week brought forward more evidence that we are living in a fabricated world. The popular story-line presents a world of pure awesomeness. The common experience, however, falls grossly short.
There are many degrees of awesomeness, up to total awesomeness – which is where we are these days, in the age of total awesomeness, just a short skip away from the Nirvana era. What is Nirvana, you may wonder? We only know for sure that Nirvana is what...

A Useful Public Service
There are nooks and corners in every city where talk is cheap and scandal is honorable. The Alley, in Downtown Los Angeles, is a magical place where shrewd entrepreneurs, shameless salesmen, and downright hucksters coexist in symbiotic disharmony. Fakes, fugazis, and knock-offs galore, pack the roll-up storefronts with sparkle and shimmer.
The Alley in LA – in places such as this, consumers are as a rule well served by applying a little bit of...

Moribund Meandering
Earlier this week, the USD gold price was pushed rather unceremoniously off its perch above the $1300 level, where it had been comfortably ensconced all year after its usual seasonal rally around the turn of the year. For a while it seemed as though the $1,300 level may actually hold, but persistent US dollar strength nixed that idea. Previously many observers (too many?) expected gold to finally break out from its lengthy consolidation pattern, but evidently the...

A Movie We Have Seen Before – Repatriation Effect?
There was a sizable increase in the year-on-year growth rate of the true US money supply TMS-2 between February and March. Note that you would not notice this when looking at the official broad monetary aggregate M2, because the component of TMS-2 responsible for the jump is not included in M2. Let us begin by looking at a chart of the TMS-2 growth rate and its 12-month moving average.
The y/y growth rate of TMS-2...

Waiting for Permanent Backwardation
The price of gold dropped 9 bucks, while that of silver rose 3 cents. Readers often ask us if permanent backwardation (when gold withdraws its bid on the dollar) is still coming. We say it is certain (unless we can avert it by offering interest on gold at large scale). They ask is it imminent, and we think this is with a mixture of fear and longing for a higher gold price.
Lettuce hope this treasure is not cursed... but it probably is....

Shill Alarm
One well-known commentator this week opined about the US health care industry:
“...the system is designed the churn and burn... to push people through the clinics as quickly as possible.
The standard of care now is to prescribe some medication (usually antibiotics) and send people on their way without taking the time to conduct a comprehensive examination.”
From the annals of modern health care... [PT]
Nope. That is not the standard...

In Other Global Markets the “Turn-of-the-Month” Effect Generates Even Bigger Returns than in the US
The “turn-of-the-month” effect is one of the most fascinating stock market phenomena. It describes the fact that price gains primarily tend to occur around the turn of the month. By contrast, the rest of the time around the middle of the month is typically far less profitable for investors.
Good vs. bad seasonal timing... [PT]
The effect has been studied...

Tightening Credit Markets
Daylight extends a little further into the evening with each passing day. Moods ease. Contentment rises. These are some of the many delights the northern hemisphere has to offer this time of year. As summer approaches, and dispositions loosen, something less amiable is happening. Credit markets are tightening. The yield on the 10-Year Treasury note has exceeded 3.12 percent.
A change in pace: yields are actually going somewhere. There is...

Voting with their Feet
A couple of recent articles have once more made the case, at least implicitly, for political decentralization as the only viable path which will begin to solve the seemingly insurmountable political, economic, and social crises which the Western world now faces.
Fracture lines – tax and regulatory competition allows people to “vote with their feet” - and they certainly do. [PT]
In the last few months, over 3,000 millionaires have...

Gold Lending and Arbitrage
There was no rise in the purchasing power of gold this week. The price of gold fell $22, and that of silver $0.19. One question that comes up is why is the fundamental price so far above the market price? Starting in January, the fundamental price began to move up sharply, and the move sustained through the end of April.
1-month LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate – the rate at which banks lend euro-dollars to each other). LIBOR and GOFO...

A Truism that is Demonstrably True
Most people are probably aware of the adage “sell in May and go away”. This popular seasonal Wall Street truism implies that the market's performance is far worse in the six summer months than in the six winter months. Numerous studies have been undertaken in this context particularly with respect to US stock markets, and they confirm that the stock market on average exhibits relative weakness in the summer.
Look at the part we...